ANOTHER PSYCHOMETRIC PROOF OF THE ABBREVIATED MATH ANXIETY SCALE USEFULNESS: IRT ANALYSIS

Abstract

The aim of this research is the psychometric evaluation of the Abbreviation Math Anxiety Scale (AMAS) on a sample of high school students. AMAS operationalizes math anxiety as a two- dimensional construct, basing its main components on the context model: math learning anxiety (MAL) and math evaluation anxiety (MAE). MAL represents the tendency of manifesting mathematical anxiety during the process of learning mathematics, while MAE represents math anxiety present in all situations that imply formal evaluation of math knowledge. The sample consisted of 514 high school students (45.3% male), aged 15 to 19. Confirmatory factor analysis pointed that AMAS is a one–dimensional scale with two facets, with the bifactorial solution showing the best fit parameters. Psychometric attributes of AMAS were tested by using Item Response Theory. Items and the questionnaire showed appropriate psychometric properties. The AMAS scale has expected patterns of relatedness with mathematical achievement, motivation for learning math, age and gender.

Keywords

• AMAS, high school, Item Response Theory, math anxiety